Life on Orcas Island

Orcas Island is one of the San Juan Islands off the coast of Washington State, accessible only by ferry or small aircraft. It is about 57 square miles and the population fluctuates between 4,000 and 7,000 depending on the season. Life here is a storybook experience, removed from the busyness of the mainland. Thick, forested precipices hover over the Salish Sea below, and artists, craftspeople, sailors, pilots, entrepreneurs, dreamers, and thinkers abound. Residents live a slower-paced, community-oriented life, and people take time to stop on the street to talk to one another for extended, meaningful conversations. Talents blossom to fill needed niches, individuality is enjoyed, and conformity is put away. Summer here is bright, warm, and external - a time for jumping off docks into sun-warmed lakes and paddling around sparkling inlets. Winter is dark, rainy, and internal - a time for molding clay and writing plays. An isolated serenity permeates this place as loons sing across the Sound, sheep baa in the distance, and newts squiggle under black ponds. This book is a chronicling of the people, the gatherings, and the unique experiences that make life here so uncommonly remarkable.